Ronaldo poses major threat to former team Manchester Utd

MANCHESTER United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his Real Madrid counterpart Jose Mourinho are close friends.

However, they are the best of enemies when their respective teams square up against each other - that will be the case in Spain in the early hours of Thursday morning.

United, the Premier League leaders, travel to the Bernabeu to take on the reigning Spanish champions in the pick of the last-16, first-leg matches in the Champions League.

There have been 14 previous meetings between these great managers - Mourinho has won six during his time at FC Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan, while Ferguson has won three. There have been five draws.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson. Getty Images / Clive Rose

For Ferguson to close the gap, he knows the Red Devils will have to shut down the huge threat posed by of his former stars, Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo will face his old team for the first time since leaving for Madrid in 2009 and since then he's been in prolific form, scoring 182 goals in 179 appearances including a 33-minute hat-trick against Sevilla last weekend.